LaRouche Free on Bond After Not Guilty Plea

Fringe presidential candidate Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that he conspired to thwart a federal investigation into an alleged $1-million credit card fraud scheme to finance his 1984 campaign.

U.S. Magistrate Robert B. Collings released LaRouche on $20,000 bond and told him that he would be liable for an additional $200,000 if he failed to appear for trial on Sept. 21. The bond was posted by a LaRouche supporter.

The magistrate allowed LaRouche, whose wife lives in West Germany and who has spent much of his time in recent years out of the United States, to keep his passport until Sept. 8, when he will have to surrender it to federal authorities.

LaRouche, 64, was named last week as a conspirator with 13 aides and five of his organizations in the alleged fraud and plot to block an investigation of their fund-raising tactics.

Meetings Abroad

Defense attorney Odin Anderson asked Collings to allow LaRouche, who said he is running for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination, to keep his passport so that he could attend meetings in Europe, Africa and South America that are related to his campaign.

Anderson said LaRouche has no assets and that, because he will be campaigning in the United States, it is ridiculous to think that he would not appear for trial.

LaRouche returned to West Germany a week ago after voluntarily spending four hours before a federal grand jury in Boston.

He boasted after the grand jury appearance that it would prove his innocence. The panel indicted him the next day, and the charge was unsealed Thursday after prosecutors received assurances that LaRouche would return for arraignment and trial, which is scheduled for September.

LaRouche is charged with conspiring to obstruct justice by allegedly ordering followers to burn and shred campaign finance documents and to leave the Boston area so they could not be questioned by investigators.